


Playing games

by chaeotic



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, if I wasn't already gay I'd arrest Joker for stealing my heterosexuality smh, smut in chapter 2, takes place at the casino palace, who put the plot into my porn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:52:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13871541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaeotic/pseuds/chaeotic
Summary: Keep it professional. It's not the first time you did something like that.He looked up at Joker and tried to collect himself enough to look calm and unfazed as he said in his best pleasant boy voice: "It says 'sex'."There's no way I can keep it professional!





	Playing games

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by one of my fav doujins I read a while ago, _'Can't leave unless you have sex'_. It's in Japanese but if you still wanna read it, you can find it [here.](https://myreadingmanga.info/mtg-asahiko-cant-leave-unless-sex-persona-5-dj-jp/)  
>  Also, I'm sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my first language rip

"The next task," the shadow said. "will be something simple. It's a little game you'll play in two man groups, so may I ask you to choose a partner?" 

Akechi would never admit it out loud but playing a 'simple game' sounded good to him since he felt a little exhausted. The music, the people, the lights and flashy screens were getting on his nerves and it didn't help that his body was aching a little from when Joker had pushed him away and right into a slot machine, just to save him from the enemy's attack. _He wouldn't do that if he knew what I'm going to do to him after this_ , Akechi thought as he rubbed his hip as subtle as possible. _Though, it's my fault for not focusing enough. Holding myself back like this...and this palace is starting to piss me off...those idiots too..._ He glanced at the thieves. 

"Two man groups, huh..." Fox was rubbing his chin, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, his tail swaying slightly. "Perhaps it's some sort of--" 

"Quiz?" Oracle tapped her finger against her lower lip and tilted her head. She looked at the rest of the group. "Maybe we need to answer stuff correctly. Wouldn't it be wise to pair up with someone who isn't..." 

"Like Skull?" Mona snorted.

"I heard that!" The blonde scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Stupid cat." 

"So, you suggest to team up with someone smart?" Panther looked at Oracle questioningly, who nodded in return. She clapped her hands and then turned towards their leader. "Alright! Then I'm gonna pair up with Joker!" 

" _What?_ " Skull yelled and Akechi almost rolled his eyes at his ever so loud voice. "No fair! _I_ wanted to team up with him!"  
Apparently those two weren't the only ones who wanted their leader as their partner, judging from the way the others glanced at Joker like they were silently asking him to pair up with them. It was almost to pathetic to watch. 

"Joker, maybe you should choose first," Queen suggested, brushing one stray lock of her hair behind her ear. 

Akechi looked at him. Joker hadn't said anything the entire time. He was just standing there, his red-gloved hands in his pockets, sharp eyes scanning the surroundings as if he was looking for something. When he heard Queen speaking directly to him, he turned his head and looked at her. "Hm? Choose a partner?" He shifted his stance, his coattails swinging slightly. Akechi was almost embarrassed to admit that the way those coattails swayed with every move of Joker's body was hypnotizing.

Akechi perked up when he heard his codename. It was the first time since they got here that someone spoke to him, and it was none other than Joker himself. "Excuse me?" 

"If you're okay with it, do you wanna team up with me?" He was looking directly at him, his grey eyes almost black behind the white mask. From the corner of his eye, Akechi could see how Skull's jaw dropped and the look of betrayal in his eyes almost made him laugh. Queen and Mona gave Akechi a wary look. 

"Fine," he said, his voice soft and gentle as always. "Let's be partners then." 

"Sweet." Joker turned to the others. "You guys should hurry up and choose a partner." 

Queen was still looking at Akechi like she was trying to figure out what he was thinking. _Just like her sister_ , he thought and shook his head.

"Hey! What about me?" Mona cried out when everyone had a partner. The shadow shook its head at him. "You won't need one. It will be just the eight of you, so you may wait here until the game is over. Now then, I shall explain." It reached under the table it was standing behind and placed eight clipboards on it. "First, you need to write down the least thing you would do with someone. Please be honest and don't worry, it is anonymous." 

The thieves were hesitating; Akechi could understand them. He wasn't sure what this game was about and it made him think. Oracle was the first one to grab a clipboard and wrote something down. Then the others did the same until it was just him and Joker standing there in silence. He glanced at the leader. He was staring down at the clipboards, worrying his lower lip between his teeth in deep thoughts. 

_They probably expect us to do the things we write down._ Akechi rubbed his chin. _But then...what would be the point of being anonymous? I don't quite understand..._ He noticed Joker reaching out for a clipboard and furrowed his brow. _Whatever it is, I have to write something down._ He grabbed a clipboard and thought for a second before scribbling something down.

The voice of the shadow almost startled him. "Please, be honest." 

He looked up in surprise and saw that the shadow was facing him. How did it know that the thing he wrote was...? 

Joker just chuckled and it was the only sound with the dull bass of the music outside this hall and the scratching of the pen he was writing with. Akechi gave him a slightly annoyed look, the sight of the crooked smirk on his lips only annoying him further. Like he _knew_ he was going to write something dishonest. 

He bit his lip and looked at the clipboard in his hands. Something he would never do with someone...something that would make him feel uncomfortable, maybe even _scared_...  
_Something personal_ , he thought and he tightened his grip on the pen. _Letting someone close to you_ , a voice in his head whispered. _Letting someone know about your past, your secrets and your thoughts. Letting someone see the real you._

He raised his shoulders a little and looked around him. The thieves were waiting patiently for them to finish. _That's right_ , Akechi thought. _This is something I'd never do with any of them. I'd never do that with..._ His eyes fell on Joker and his body relaxed unconsciously. _He probably wrote something completely different..._  
Akechi was surprised that he...wanted to know what Joker had written. They were both the same, yet so different, like black and white. And even though Joker's end was nearing, Akechi couldn't help but wish he had met him sooner. Everytime he saw the black haired student at the station his feet were moving on their own, bringing him closer to him. He enjoyed their conversations, the way Kurusu always answered so honestly, making him think things over more than once, sometimes even making him doubt what he was doing...or was about to do...  
Kurusu was slowly changing him. He made him want to know more about him, what he was thinking when he was holding his chin in this particular way, the things he liked, the things he disliked...  
Things...he disliked...to do...  
If he had met Kurusu earlier, he could have changed how this was going to end. He could have showed him the world how he saw it, how the other thieves saw it, the tiny glimpse of it that he was able to experience in the short time he was with them.  
Akechi bit his lip in frustration and bowed his head to write something down. His hand was shaking and his mind was full with empty _What ifs_.

 

 

 

"Thank you for sharing something so personal," the shadow said when everyone was finished. Skull muttered something under his breath that didn't sound polite and Akechi huffed softly. "Now, I would like you to return the clipboards." 

Queen hesitated. "You want to collect what we wrote?" 

"Correct." The shadow nodded and gestured to its left. There was a small hallway with two open doors on either side. "Please put the clipboards on the table. There are four rooms as you can see. Every team chooses a room and don't worry, they are all the same. It doesn't matter which one you will pick. I will explain the game further when every team is in their chosen room." 

The thieves looked at each other. Joker turned to Mona and tilted his head slightly. "You stay here and wait for us. Be careful." 

"I should say that to you!" Mona put his paws to his hips and straightened his back. "Whatever that game is, you should be on guard!" 

The others nodded at him and made their way towards the rooms. Skull and Panther were the first ones to enter a room, with Queen and Noir taking the one next to theirs and Oracle and Fox the one on the other side. Joker glanced at Akechi, waiting for him to move, and then followed him into the only free room. 

It was a hotel room, with fancy decoration like the rest of the casino. A giant bed was in the middle, with two nightstands on either side and a desk in the corner. The only big window in the room was covered with a metal plate and there was a door that probably led into the bathroom.  
Still, no matter how fancy that room was, Akechi couldn't tear his eyes away from the giant metal plate. 

They both flinched when they heard the door behind them shut with a click and they turned around simultaneously.

The door - a giant metal door with no handle - was closed and didn't look like it would open soon. 

"Tch." Akechi grit his teeth and marched towards the door. "Seriously? What's the meaning of this?" 

" _Now then, I shall continue to explain the game_ ," the shadow's voice filled the room and Akechi looked up. There were speakers above the door, together with a screen that read 'closed' in red letters. He furrowed his brow. " _I asked you to write something down that you would never do with a person. I will now give every one of you one of those pieces of paper randomly and you will have to do what's written on the paper with the partner you chose. Please keep in mind that you have to do the things written on the paper in order to leave this room. Also, you'll get 10.000 coins for every fulfilled task which will be 80.000 in total, the exact amount you need to clear this floor. I will now hand out the papers. Good luck._ "

When it was silent Akechi sighed and pushed his mask up, rubbing his face. "This will either be really easy...or really difficult, depending on what the others wrote," he said, his gentle voice sounding so calm even though he felt a little nervous. He turned around and his eyes widened slightly when he saw Joker sitting on the edge of the bed, so casually like it didn't bother him that he was locked up in a room with a man who was going to kill him. Not that he knew about that, of course. "You look...awfully calm," Akechi remarked. 

Joker shrugged one shoulder, elegant and nonchalant as always. "I'm thinking," he said and crossed one leg over the other, holding his chin. 

Akechi leaned against the wall next to the door, watching him for a few seconds. His unruly hair, his handsome face, the wide line of his shoulders, his long legs... His mind was wandering into dangerous territory but he couldn't help but wonder if he would have met him earlier... _would the way I see him be different?_ Would the interest he had in him bloom into something stronger? The admiration and envy, would they vanish and be replaced by... He couldn't even think about this word. Him? Feeling something like _that?_ For _Kurusu_ , of all people? He shook his head and stared at the carpet.  
"Are you worried about the others?" he asked to keep himself from thinking about Kurusu like that.

"That's not it. I'm pretty sure they're doing fine." Joker turned his head at him and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure about it. The sound of paper against metal distracted them though and they looked at the door. Two envelopes were pushed under the door and Akechi picked them up.

"I guess this is it." He turned at Joker and held them up. "Which one will you take?" 

"Left one. Thanks." He gave him the envelope and watched him opening it. His eyes widened behind his mask and he glanced at Akechi. The detective quickly looked at his own envelope and opened it. When he read what was written on the paper in it he could feel how all color left his face so quickly, he got dizzy. Akechi cleared his throat and folded the paper with slightly shaky fingers. "What...what does your paper say?" he asked and he hated how hoarse his voice sounded.

Joker looked at the paper between his fingers and snuffled. He almost looked like he was embarrassed and still tried to act calm, from the way his red-gloved hands played with the paper. He uncrossed his legs and spread them a little, sitting exactly like he did outside the Metaverse. Now he didn't look like cool, elegant, annoyingly seductive Joker who always was a bit too cocky and liked to tease others. He looked like the calm, collected and slightly awkward Kurusu Akira Akechi enjoyed to talk with at the station, the Kurusu that always served him a cup of coffee with a soft, gentle, almost shy smile.  
The Kurusu who had caught his interest before he knew about his double life. 

"Joker?" Akechi tilted his head.  
Kurusu looked up at him, like he had startled him. "Sorry, I was thinking," he said and straightened the piece of paper between his slender fingers. "It says ' _I would never kiss someone I don't love'_." 

Both of them were quiet until Akechi broke the silence. He laughed without humour in his voice. _I feel so betrayed right now._ "So, it means..." 

"I have to kiss someone I don't love." 

"Yeah. And since it's just the two of us, you have to kiss me, I suppose." Akechi's heart picked up its pace and it annoyed him. It was just a kiss...it wasn't like it would be his first, so why did he get excited just by the thought of kissing Kurusu? _Pathetic._

Joker chuckled and Akechi raised a brow. "What? Did I say something wrong?" 

"Yes." Joker looked up and it wasn't Kurusu's face anymore; this was Joker again. Crooked smile, dark eyes. A face Akechi both liked and detested. He furrowed his brow. "...I'm not quite sure I understand." 

Joker raised the paper. "I can't kiss you, _detective_. It says I have to kiss someone I don't--" 

" _No._ " Akechi finally realized what he meant and he couldn't hold back the blush that tinted his cheeks. "Stop joking around," he then said and grit his teeth, anger bubbling up inside of him. "Just let's get this over with and kiss me." 

Joker closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not joking," he said and his voice was so serious, Akechi didn't like it. He chuckled at that. "You're...just saying that because you don't want to kiss me, right?" he said and brushed his hair behind his ear. "That's actually quite smart." Like Kurusu _loved him_. Who would even kiss someone as filthy as him? No one had ever wanted him, had ever loved him. This was just Kurusu playing games, because if it would be the truth...

Life truly was cruel and unfair. 

Joker looked _pissed_. His lips were pressed into a thin line and his eyes narrowed. "If the shadow could tell that you were lying about the thing you first wrote down, it would be pointless for me to lie." And Akechi hated to admit it but he was right. 

He shifted awkwardly and pressed a hand against his temple. "You're really...serious." He glanced at Joker who was looking anywhere but him. Akechi's face heated up. "I can't believe it..." 

The white mask covered a good amount of his face but Akechi swore he could see that the tips of Joker's ears were red between the black curls of his hair. "It's not like I was planning to confess to you _here_ , at this time," he said, voice still calm and collected.

Akechi stiffened. "So, you were thinking about...confessing...?" 

Joker's lip parted but he didn't say anything. Then, after a few seconds passed he mumbled a soft "yeah".

Akechi could feel his heart sinking into his stomach and he wrapped his arms around himself to stop his body from shaking. _Get a grip of yourself_ , a voice in his head hissed at him but he couldn't. He never had parents that loved him, with his father abandoning him and his mother committing suicide. He never had any friends that cared about him. In fact, he never had anyone who was there for him. Friends were meaningless. And he would never find someone who truly loved him. He was a bastard child, broken beyond repair. No one would be able to put the pieces together, no one would accept and love him, the real him.

And then this piece of trash had walked into his life. Treated him like a normal person, not like the celebrity he was, the Highschool Detective Akechi Goro, the sweet beautiful detective prince every girl was crazy about -- the killer he secretly was -- no. He treated him like a normal person and he liked it. It gave him the same feeling he felt everytime he was sitting at Leblanc, enjoying his coffee and forgetting about his duties and tasks, his past and the future. 

The little conversations with Kurusu always made his mornings better. And the time he had spent with the other thieves...no matter how annoyingly loud Ryuji was or how Makoto always watched his every move...it was quite enjoyable. He caught a glimpse of how it could be to have friends and it was almost sickening how much he liked it.

And then there was Kurusu...Kurusu who had caught his interest from the very first moment. Who he both admired and envied. Who had shown him how life could be if he would join them...

Kurusu who he would have to kill. The first and only person that loved him.

Life was indeed cruel and unfair.

"You really shouldn't...like me," Akechi muttered and Kurusu just shrugged his shoulders. "You can tell me not to do something and I'll do it twice and take pictures of it," he said and twirled the piece of paper between his fingers. Akechi clicked his tongue in annoyance at the cocky tone and looked up at him. "Just stop joking around for once--" He closed his mouth when he saw the look in Kurusu's eyes and swallowed. 

"I already told you I'm not joking around." Kurusu slowly raised to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm serious, Akechi. I was serious when I said I'm not going to kiss you. I was serious when I said I was planning on confessing to you. And I'm serious now." His voice turned softer and Akechi hated how it did things to his heart. He refused to look at Kurusu, even when he got closer to him.  
"I'm sorry that I fell in love with you," he heard him whisper. "I couldn't help it." 

Akechi chuckled at that. "Who the hell apologizes while confessing to someone?" he asked, his voice dry and rough in his ears. 

"That would be me, I guess." Kurusu rubbed the back of his head and it made Akechi smile involuntary. The black haired male returned his smile and shoved his mask up, revealing his beautiful grey eyes and Akechi had to close his eyes. The open admiration in those grey depths was almost too much for him to handle.

Akechi chuckled darkly and shook his head, straightening his back, slipping his mask back on, tucking his real self away. He had a mission to carry out, a plan he needed to follow. If he closed his eyes and ears, Kurusu would maybe disappear, together with the temptation and desire to take his hand and let him tug him into his world.

"You really are a fool," was all he said and Kurusu just snorted at that. "You still don't believe me?" 

_I don't want to believe you but you're making this difficult._ "We shouldn't dwell on it any longer, don't you think?" He looked up at him and smiled. It felt like plastic on his face. "Let's get out of here, Joker." 

Kurusu studied his face for a few more seconds before he pushed a hand through his black curls. "...yeah," he breathed out and he looked slightly frustrated and tired. He walked back to the bed and flopped down, still graceful as ever without knowing. He crossed one leg over the other and raised a brow at Akechi. "I fulfilled my task. What about yours, _Crow?_ " 

Akechi's smile dropped when he remembered what was written on his paper. _Damn it. I forgot about the task._ He straightened the paper between his shaky fingers and read the letters over and over again until they were burned into his brain. One word, three letters. One word, three letters. One word...

_Keep it professional. It's not the first time you did something like that._

He looked up at Joker and tried to collect himself enough to look calm and unfazed as he said in his best pleasant boy voice: "It says ' _sex'_." 

_There's no way I can keep it professional!_

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on [tumblr](http://c-a-i-n-e-s.tumblr.com/) if you wanna talk with a loser.


End file.
